Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore)

The cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower was begun in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio, on a scale meant to outdo the cathedrals of Pisa and Siena. By 1418 the walls were finished, but no one knew how to cover the enormous octagonal crossing, forty-five metres across. Filippo Brunelleschi won the competition with a daring plan. He would build a double-shelled dome without any wooden framework, using bricks laid in a herringbone pattern. The dome rose between 1420 and 1436, and it is still the largest masonry dome in the world. Pope Eugene IV consecrated the cathedral on 25 March 1436.

Beside it stands Giotto’s slender bell tower, faced like the cathedral with white, green and pink marble. Opposite is the ancient Baptistery of Saint John, with Lorenzo Ghiberti’s gilded bronze doors, which Michelangelo called the “Gates of Paradise.” The cathedral’s own façade was left bare for centuries and was completed only in 1887.

Inside the dome, Vasari and Zuccari painted a vast fresco of the Last Judgment. Visitors can climb the 463 steps between the two shells of the dome to the lantern at the top.

Built

1296–1436 (façade 1887)

Style

Gothic and Renaissance

Where

Florence, Italy

Map

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